LoveReading Says
Mary Renault is deeply loved by many, though is today not nearly as widely read as she deserves to be. Just as Rosemary Sutcliff gave me Roman Britain, so did Renault guide me — and so many others — to Classical Greece. As with many (though not all) great novelists, readers can legitimately debate which is her best book. Reading is a dialogue, after all, not a monologue: we bring our own taste, personality, our age and times, the state of our life when we pick up a book … and that has much to do with whether we hate, like, love a novel. I’m going to name what I do think is Renault’s best.
The King Must Die is the first of two novels about the mythic figure of Theseus (it can absolutely be read alone), taking him from childhood to the island of Crete and an unforgettable imagining of what Minoan Crete (before 1500 BCE!) might have been like at the height of that culture, including the celebrated bull-dancers. We can’t know, but Renault’s magnificent act of creation lets us imagine it with her, and be wrapped in wonder. It is a beautifully-told story, written in a way that opens a reader up to the idea of the strangeness of the past (more on this later) — while offering characters that are both mythic and profoundly immediate and intense. I don’t say masterpiece often, but I think this book is.
Selected by our Spring 2021 Guest Editor, Guy Gavriel Kay
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The King Must Die Synopsis
'Mary Renault's portraits of the ancient world are fierce, complex and eloquent, infused at every turn with her life-long passion for the Classics' Madeline Miller, bestselling author of Circe
The true parentage of Theseus, grandson of the King of Troizon, has always been shrouded in mystery. Rumours swirl that his father is Poseidon himself. But when he learns the truth - that he is the son and heir of Aegeus, King of Athens - Theseus sets out on a quest to claim his birthright.
But his journey is a perilous one, from encounters with bandits to marriage to the Queen of Eleusis, whose consort is sacrificed each year - and, finally, to the labyrinthine palace of King Minos on Crete. There Thesues must enlist the help of high priestess Ariadne in a darling plan to slay the Minatour - and free his people.
Thrilling, immersive and gorgeously told, Mary Renault's classic novel is a unforgettable reimagining of the timeless Greek myth.
'Mary Renault is a shining light to both historical novelists and their readers' Hilary Mantel, bestselling author of Wolf Hall
'This brilliant retelling of the story of Theseus, the king of Athens, brings Greek mythology vividly to life and remains "one of the truly fine historical novels of modern times"' New York Times
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Mary Renault Press Reviews
There's much to say about her interweaving of myth and history and, just as interestingly, there's much to wonder at in the way she fills in the large dark spaces where we know next to nothing about the times she describes . . . an important and wonderful writer . . . she set a course into serious-minded, psychologically intense historical fiction that today seems more important than ever -- Sam Jordison - Guardian
Renault did for Ancient Greece what Hilary Mantel did for the Tudors -- Quentin Letts - The Week
About Mary Renault
Mary Renault was educated at Clifton High School, Bristol and St Hugh's College, Oxford. Having completed nursing training in 1937, she then wrote her first novel Promise of Love. Her next three novels were written during off-time duty whilst serving in the war. In 1948 she went to live in South Africa but travelled widely. It was her trip to Greece and her visits to Corinth, Samos, Crete, Delos, Aegina and other islands, as well as to Athens, Sounion and Marathon, that resulted in her brilliant historical reconstructions of Ancient Greece. Mary Renault died in 1983.
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